Vélez: Textbooks will be modified to glorify the 64 coup.

247 - Referring to the 1964 coup that imposed the military dictatorship in Brazil, the Minister of Education, Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez, said that "there will be progressive changes" in textbooks so that "children can have a true, real idea" of what their history was. This statement was given in an interview with the newspaper... Valor Econômico This comes after President Jair Bolsonaro instructed the Armed Forces to celebrate the coup as if it were a "revolution."

Vélez, who is Colombian, endorses Bolsonaro's speech, saying that there was no coup on March 31, 1964, and even less that the regime that succeeded it was a dictatorship.

"Brazilian history shows that March 31, 1964, was a sovereign decision of Brazilian society. It wasn't the military that put President Castelo Branco in power," he said. "It was a vote in Congress, a constitutional body, when the president was absent. It was the Constitution of the time, and it was followed to the letter. There was an institutional change, it wasn't a coup against the Constitution of the time," he added.

Despite the political persecution, censorship, torture, and assassinations, the Minister of Education downplayed it, stating that it was a "democratic regime of force, because it was necessary at that time."

Supporting this revisionism, Vélez says that "there will be progressive changes [in textbooks] as a broader version of history is recovered."

"The role of the Ministry of Education is to guarantee the regular distribution of textbooks and to prepare textbooks in such a way that children can have a true, real idea of ​​what their history was like," he informed.

Dispute at the Ministry of Education

Regarding the internal dispute between military personnel and protégés of guru Olavo de Carvalho, which has generated a crisis within the ministry and threatened his position at its head, Vélez denied that the appointment of Lieutenant-Brigadier Ricardo Machado Vieira is a kind of 'white intervention' and that his continued tenure is being overseen by the military core of the government.

"It's not a white intervention, it's fraternal and effective collaboration. And Brigadier General Machado is a team player. I highly value his performance in the positions he held in the Air Force and the Ministry of Defense. And I think that, with him, I will have a fantastic collaborator in integrating this team," Vélez assured. According to Valor, the interview was closely followed by Brigadier General Machado.

Regarding Olavo de Carvalho, the minister said he has no connection with the astrologer, but admitted that he was nominated for the position by him. He also said that the insults he has been receiving from the guru of the Bolsonaro clan are "meteorological phenomena".

"My name is more associated with him [Olavo] in people's imaginations. Because I am truly committed to preserving the principles of good governance... He nominated me for the ministry, and my name ended up being supported by other segments of Brazilian society," he said.

Vélez further stated that the profanities Olavo hurls at him are merely a result of emotion. "When people get emotional, when they abandon reason, they start speaking with their emotions and say things that shouldn't be said in a calm, rational debate... To me, these are meteorological arguments that I don't need," he affirmed.